The Gardener: How We Grow

By Sonya Young

 

Imagine that time and space is not linear.  Instead, made of layers separated only by a thin veil.  A veil that communicates to the past and the future through a vast neural network that can be neither understood nor interfered with.    The How We Grow series invites you to explore the Unknown, adaptation and our subtle contributions to it through the most curious of characters: Reya, Terve, and Anushka.  Using nature as a backdrop, this fanciful story filled with mystical seeds, sacred symbols and giants will captivate you leaving your sense of reality and perspective challenged. 

If you are willing, it begins with Reya, The Gardener (Part I).  After a series of unexplainable events, she moves to SOMEWHERE and finds herself called to by nature tenderly, mysteriously and enthusiastically. An inquisitive woman with an unbreakable bond with Valo, Reya's presence awakens the land and the giants contributing to future generations' survival.    She accomplishes all of this without ever knowing that the packets of indiscriminate seeds she plants unite with the Earth and send vibrations that travel time and space.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LakeView Publications
• Release date: Aug 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201185589

Sonya Young

Sonya Young is a retired Air Force Intelligence Officer who served twenty-one years in, Counterterrorism, Targeting, Space and Missile Systems and Air Defense. Serving 20 plus years as an Officer and Enlisted gave Sonya a unique perspective of the military and she now writes to bridge the gap between military service and the human thread that is woven throughout each level of command. After leaving the military, Sonya started painting and pursuing her creative side through art and design.  You can see more about Sonya at: www. artybysonyayoung.com

Book preview

The Gardner

The Gardner

How We Grow, Book 1

Sonya Young

Edited by

Carol Williams

Illustrated by

Bobby Barnhill

Lakeview Publications

Contents

Prologue

1. The Unknown

2. The Mountains

3. SOMEWHERE-Home

4. Valo

5. BEFORE SOMEWHERE-Previous Home

6. BEFORE SOMEWHERE-First symbol

7. BEFORE SOMEWHERE-Shower

8. BEFORE SOMEWHERE - Changing

9. BEFORE SOMEWHERE - Meditation

10. SOMEWHERE-Home

11. Glimpse Into The Unknown

12. SOMEWHERE – The Meadow

13. SOMEWHERE – The forest

14. The Tree

15. Recover and Realize

16. Glimpse Into The Unknown

17. Seeds

18. Bees

19. First Hive

20. Funerals

21. Reya and Mehlin

22. Life Is the Answer

Reya’s Notes

23. Glimpse Into The Unknown

24. The Mountains Sit Up

Epilogue

Glossary

Acknowledgments

Also by Sonya Young

About the Author

Author owns complete rights to this material and may be contacted in regards to distribution.

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for brief quotations in a book review in which the author is noted.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-578-25313-8 

Book Cover Design: Bobby Barnhill

Editing: Carol Williams

Formatting: Craig A. Price

Publisher: LakeView Publications

Full Page Image

For future generations to come. For my children I’ve yet to meet and for the grace that follows life after life.

GRATITUDE

I am grateful for the scientists: the silent warriors in the background who stand watch over our planet, awaiting the next spark of brilliance to fuel their creativity.

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I am grateful for the apiculturists who are literally saving our lives with every breath they breathe into a new hive. I am eternally grateful for your tenderness toward these sacred creatures.

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I am grateful for the farmers, closest to the earth, the voice of the soil, for your tireless dedication with every crop, never knowing the outcome until you harvest. You are the risk-takers and the dreamers and the nurturers to us all. Thank You.

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Finally, to the explorers and the seekers. It is your fascination, curiosity, and willingness to go beyond yourself which guarantees our very existence. I am grateful for your courage and your fearlessness in the face of the Unknown.

I stepped on a weed today.

I stepped on a weed by choice today.

I was walking in the park like I normally do and chose the same path that I normally take.

This morning didn’t feel like any other morning. I love it there in the park and I love watching my puppy run and jump and play in the warm green grass.

Today I bounded toward a hill and looked down at my feet and made a conscious choice to step on a bunch of weeds instead of the grass.

This choice struck me right in the Moment my foot crushed the crisp green leaves.

I could feel the leaves snap under my weight while the sound vibrated through me, loud and clear, and I realized in that Moment that I had judged the weed.

I decided the weed was less important than the warm plush green grass. I decided that if given a choice I desired crushing the weed instead of the grass.

In this Moment I recognized my judgement and found it shocking to me.

Disturbing that I never noticed before the indiscriminate walk I take daily.

Disturbing that in this Moment, given the choice, I chose based on a belief, and, most disturbingly, that I took pleasure in choosing what I believed was of more value.

I stepped on a weed today and recognized it.

Prologue

Tuuli and Meri look down on their son and thank the moon and the stars for sending them such a vibrant being. Meri holds him close to her chest as Tuuli beams, alive with pride. They never thought this day would come. They were told they couldn’t have children. They were told to give up and move on with their life; that is, until they visited Anushka at the Apothecary.

She took one look at them without any hesitation and told them they would be parents.

In fact, you will be parents of a brilliant child whose life will impact many others.

She smiled and handed them a cup of tea blended for the sole purpose of experiencing joy.

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Avaruus lies in his crib, looking out the skylight in the ceiling. His dark blue eyes are almost as black as deep space with gold around his iris; his face is captivating. He can see the night’s sky filled with stars and ambient light from the city. He stares until he falls asleep. Avaruus dreams of space. While other children cup their stuffed animals, dreaming of games and playgrounds, he dreams of galaxies and interconnections between them. At six months old, he is communicating from his heart to the Unknown and the Unknown is answering back with pictures of places no one has ever seen before.

By age seven he is communicating with giants, at least that is what he tells his mother. Meri is not too concerned; she knows children have make-believe friends.

What are your giant friends’ names?

Well, there is Yli and Lasna, Viime and Tulevaisuus, and there are others, but they haven’t given me their names yet.

Why not?

They are waiting.

Waiting for what?

Waiting for the right Moment.

Well, while you are waiting, go upstairs and make your bed then come back down for breakfast. You don’t want to be late for school.

Yes, Ma’am.

Meri and Tuuli had many conversations with Avaruus that were unusual. He would tell them that he felt space inside himself. When he closed his eyes, he could see rotating galaxies and stars light-years away.

It’s inside me, Mom. Meri would stroke her son’s hair and tell him that he was amazing or brilliant and that he should keep imagining.

When Avaruus was sixteen, he told his parents that he felt himself changing from the inside out. He felt all of these sensations running through his body that he couldn’t explain, but they excited him. He told Meri at night he’d hear a girl’s voice calling out from the unknown.

What is she saying? Meri asks.

Hello. Can you hear me? Is anybody there?

I’ve tried to talk back, Avaruus continued, but she’s never heard me.

Later, Meri looked at Tuuli and told him that he had to have the talk with their son. She felt that Avaruus was going through puberty and his hormones were kicking in.

Frustrated with them both, Avaruus would tell his parents that they didn’t understand. It was the frustration which prompted Meri to encourage Avaruus to visit the Apothecary and meet the woman responsible for his birth.

Frustrated and out of sorts, he pushes open the Apothecary doors. With his first step inside, his hair begins to sparkle.

Chapter 1

The Unknown

The Unknown is rarely visible to humans although it occupies a dimension of their world. Their eyes are not designed nor were they ever meant to see or understand this place. There are no sounds, smells, tastes, nor colors visible to a human's five senses. As a result, a human would never survive here. Their minds could not handle the nothingness and would crack if they remained here. Mind you, the nothingness is what their bodies would interpret. This is not to say